"The reality is that certainly in Queensland, the resource industry is contributing significantly to the Australian economy," she said.

"If you can't have an industrial relations system that supports that and is creating effective and productive workplaces, then we've got a real problem on our hands."

She says companies should be able to negotiate directly with their employees instead of having to go through the unions.

"We've got a number of key recommendations and one of the main ones is that we think where workers are earning over $118,000 - which is quite high - they should have the ability to be able to elect to opt out of collective agreement-making and negotiate their own terms with their employers," she said.